Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for capturing and processing documents.
Although technology has provided ways to electronically deliver documents for quite some time, it is still very common to receive documents in paper form. It is also quite common for a person to use the information contained in a document for other purposes. For example, people typically must take information contained on tax forms and enter this information either manually onto paper forms or into tax preparation software for filing. Manual data entry is not only tedious but also subject to keying errors.
One solution is to capture tax forms using the camera that is part of a mobile device. For example, Intuit offers a mobile application called SnapTax, which requires a user to use align a W-2 form within a predetermined area of the camera's screen and then click the shutter button. The data contained on the captured W-2 form is extracted and combined with additional information provided by a user to complete a form 1040A.
Intuit advertises the SnapTax application as being available for persons who do not own a home, only have W-2, interest, or unemployment income, and earned less than $100K (or $120K if married) in 2012. Further, Intuit advertises that the SnapTax application captures a photograph of a W-2 form but does not advertise the ability to capture photographs of interest income statement forms or unemployment income forms.